Page 12 of Whisking It All

She watched him leave, making sure she was alone, before she pulled out her phone.

WhiskyBusiness: What’s better? Robin’s egg blue or fire engine red?”

It only took a moment for the three dots to begin dancing at the bottom of the screen.

DiceDiceBaby: That depends on where you’re putting the color?

WhiskyBusiness: Dish towels. Oven mitts.

DiceDiceBaby: Go with the blue. Calming and creative at the same time.

WhiskyBusiness: And if I’d said the color was going somewhere else?

DiceDiceBaby: Like where?

WhiskyBusiness: I don’t know. Fondant?

DiceDiceBaby: Does fondant need a color?

WhiskyBusiness: *eye roll emoji* You’re no fun.

DiceDiceBaby: What can I say? I like the look of a white cake.

Tessa snorted and rounded the corner into the walk-in refrigerator. She’d be starting from scratch with stocking the place, but it had plenty of space to store the larger baker’s racks that would house cooling cakes and setting custards. She snapped a picture and sent it off to DDB.

DiceDiceBaby: New kitchen?

WhiskyBusiness: New to me.

DiceDiceBaby: Where?

WhiskyBusiness: No identifying details, remember?

DiceDiceBaby: Can’t blame a guy for trying.

She liked DDB. Too much. She had enough years of proof to know that liking something that much was a sure sign it would never work out—jobs, homes, families…

She’d been clear with him from the beginning. This was an internet friendship, even if their messages had grown increasingly flirtatious. Even if she did spend more time messaging the mysterious chef she’d met in the Brilliant British Bakes online forum than any of the guys who matched with her on the dating app she’d reluctantly installed last year. Come to think of it, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d even logged into the dating app.

Flashes from the night before swirled through her mind—Jamie staring up at her from between her legs, burying his nose in her hair, banding his arm around her chest to hold her tight to his body as he pistoned into her from behind in the middle of the night. Heat rushed through her, and she swallowed down the twinge of regret that she’d never see him again.

It’s for the best.

The night before had felt like a dream, somehow out of time and place. It had all felt so unreal and yet somehow more real than she could afford to indulge. None of that mattered now, anyway. Jamie was gone and DDB would stay safely confined to her message inbox where he could never look at her like he was making plans. Tessa didn’t make plans, especially not with men.

WhiskyBusiness: One more color question.

DiceDiceBaby: Hit me.

WhiskyBusiness: Panties.

The three dots appeared. Disappeared. Reappeared.

Tessa smirked, biting her lip to keep from outright laughing as she imagined him trying to find the perfect response. She didn’t know what he looked like, but she imagined he was tall, with warm eyes and a sexy smile. Big hands, rough from years of working in kitchens. In her mind, he was big all over.

Like Jamie.

No.

---